Current Lifetime Happiness

Current Lifetime Happiness
0087650

Monday, August 8, 2011

Finish a Book

Finish a Book

Description: Reading is one of the most relaxing forms of entertaining for some Sims. Your Sim wants to read a book cover from cover. Grab one from the bookshelf, or visit the library, or purchase a new one from the book store.

Lifetime Happiness Points: 500




The Crystal City: The Tales of Alvin Maker, Book 6
Orson Scott Card
Tor, August 2004
$7.99, Mass Market Paperback, 340 pp.
ISBN 0812564626


Orson Scott Card picks up where he left off in the Tales of Alvin Maker series, a fantastic look at what America could (and probably should) have been. Card painstakingly creates an alternate history combining folk magic, Native wisdom, and remarkable characters. The series is well researched and well written, and The Crystal City is no exception.

The Crystal City finds Alvin Maker in Nueva Barcelona (New Orleans, still under Spanish Rule) on an errand for his wife Peggy, a powerful Torch. Peggy has a knack for keeping Alvin out of harms way, and routinely sends him to far away places for apparently no good reason. Alvin, the seventh son of a seventh son, and a powerful Maker in his own right, has his own knack for finding good reason to help people, no matter where his journeys take him. Peggy has seen a terrible war in the futures of every American, and Alvin can only assume that he is to help find a way to prevent it. This will prove quite a task in the racist and caste-ridden climate of the South.

Soon Alvin, with his fifteen-year-old brother-in-law Arthur Stuart in tow (a character that is pleasantly too big for his breeches) is busy stopping a Yellow Fever epidemic, helping to prevent a war with Mexico, and trying to find a way to transport five-thousand runaway slaves across Lake Ponchartrain. The eventual character development of Arthur Stuart is rewarding, and Card gives a peek into Alvin’s private life, when he finds his way home to sort a few things out with his wife.

The main setting for The Crystal City is New Orleans. Card’s picture of a pre-Civil War New Orleans is meticulous in detail, and is a grave reminder of our own true history. The Crystal City goes beyond the issue of slavery; he shows us the struggles of the French under Spanish Rule, of the Spanish trying to hold the Mississippi River from the ever advancing English, and of the few free blacks who could not find safety with any social group. Native Americans play a vital part in this series. They hold the entire western shore of the Mississippi (or, Mizzippy, in Alvin’s world) from settlement by outsiders, and Alvin’s friendship with their head shaman Tenskwa-Tawa continues to impress.

Several historical characters make an appearance in The Crystal City. Alvin makes an acquaintance out of one Abraham Lincoln, and each change the paths of the other’s destiny in their own subtle ways. Jim Bowie is also found wherever the trouble is, and given his troubled history with Alvin Maker, the results of their encounters are quite satisfying, and bring a bit of comic relief to a troubled time. Two of the most memorable new characters in this volume are Papa Moose and Mama Squirrel, who run a children’s home in Nueva Barcelona. The names these characters don are completely real and believable in Card’s world, and also allude grandly to two of my favorite childhood characters, Rocky and Bullwinkle. These references to the people and events of the world we live in, is what hooked me on alternate histories in the first place. They allow the reader to feel more a part of the story, and connect easily with the characters. After all, Card has George Washington beheaded in Book 1, and has Alvin dream the plot to The Lord of the Rings in another. What fan of fantasy could not find that alluring?

Write a Book

Write a Book

Description: Your Sim wants to write novels... better get busy behind the keyboard!

Lifetime Happiness Points: 1000




In the game, there is no publishing of books. Once you finish the book it is automatically published and you start receiving royalties. If only the real world were like that. So for the purpose of this blog, "Write" is going to equal "publish."

In 2010 I was lucky enough to publish my first chapbook, 28 Blackbirds at the End of the World. It is a haiku sequence of 28 poems. It was published by Bandersnatch Books. I am pretty proud of this little book. It sold through its first press run and is currently out of print.

Friday, August 5, 2011

Buy a Bookshelf

Buy a Bookshelf

Description: If you don't have something that's why you need it! Your Sim wants to earn something new.

Lifetime Happiness Points: 400






Just like my Sims character I am a bookworm. I have collected thousands of books over the years and storage is always an issue. In our new house I have an office, which of course is lined with all my bookshelves. Unfortunately I am out of room for another full sized bookshelf but still have too many books for the shelves I have. Ho Hum.

So I had to shop around for a shelf that would fit under the light switch and in a space about 16 inches wide. Bed, Bath and Beyond had this little beauty for $19.99 and it fits perfectly. If you are looking for shelves that fit in small spaces, I recommend checking these out. Oh, and it was easy to build...

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Finish a Book

Finish a Book

Description: Reading is one of the most relaxing forms of entertaining for some Sims. Your Sim wants to read a book cover from cover. Grab one from the bookshelf, or visit the library, or purchase a new one from the book store.

Lifetime Happiness Points: 500




I really love Robert Bly and I had never realized how much until I read his newest book, Talking Into the Ear of a Donkey. These poems are great and really inspired me to stop being so defeatist this summer and write.

I really thought that I would get no poetry written this summer. I had just finished two books for my MFA and was feeling like the well had run dry for a while. Then I have had the kids home this summer, and I usually need a long block of quiet time to write, which I was not likely to get. But as I've said before, when the poems come they come. I ended up being quite productive this summer, which is good because I have to finish a new book by 2015.

75,000

Wow, in a few short hours I have already hit the 75,000 mark in Lifetime Happiness. There were a couple of big Lifetime Wishes that gave me a boost, and I expect these milestones to come a bit slower in the future. But hey, not a bad start.

Finish a Book

Finish a Book

Description: Reading is one of the most relaxing forms of entertaining for some Sims. Your Sim wants to read a book cover from cover. Grab one from the bookshelf, or visit the library, or purchase a new one from the book store.

Lifetime Happiness Points: 500




This book did bring me lifetime happiness as have all of the books in this series. This is by far the greatest high fantasy series since The Lord of the Rings and I don't go comparing things to LOTR very lightly. If you haven't read these or at least seen the HBO series based on them you need to do so.

Have a Child (x2)

Have a Child (x2)

Description: Becoming a parent is a life changing event for any Sim. Your Sim dreams of parenthood and starting a family with someone else. It's a noble adventure that promises a lifetime of experiences.

Lifetime Happiness Points: 2,500



Have First Child

Description: Becoming a parent is a life changing event for any Sim. Your Sim dreams of starting a family with someone. It's a noble endeavor that promises a lifetime of experiences

Lifetime Happiness Points: 5,750



Have a Child

Description: Children make families, and your Sim wants a bigger family. Add a child to your family through adoption or pregnancy right away!

Lifetime Happiness Points: 4,500





I'm glad I got these out of the way...

My children are out of town this weekend, spending time with my father before school starts. It's nice to have the house to myself and not have to wake up at 6:30 to dole out cereal, but the truth is, I miss the little scamps.

I have always said that everyone ought to have one of these little miracles, but usually I say it with a smirk. Kids teach you things, humility and embarrassment, for sure, patience eventually. I don't really think everyone should have a kid, in fact I think there ought to be a test or some other requirement, but children change lives and almost always for the better.

Super Popular







Super Popular

Lifetime Wish

Description: Be friends with 20 different Sims

Lifetime Happiness Points: 34,500




In the game this is a difficult lifetime wish. In order to be friends with a sim you have to talk to them. A lot. If you don't call or see them everyday and have a lot of conversations with them your friendship degrades. Because of the sped up time frame (a day takes about 15-30 minutes) you have to really hustle to keep up with another character. It is frustrating.

Much like real life, I have discovered. I am not the most engaging of friends. I need friends who not only understand my many quirks but also understand that if I don't call everyday it is not their fault. It is mine.

I also have a tendency to wear on a person the longer they know me. I have a smart mouth and can be very opinionated. I make a lot of jokes, often times at other people's expense. This, I think, gets old after a while. I tend to have very close friends for a shorter amount of time. I realize that sometimes people love me and hate me for the same reasons. It is something that I am working on.

I went ahead and put this on here as completed because I have had many amazing friends over the years and will have many more I hope. But it is also here to remind me that I have to be better.

Heartbreaker






Heartbreaker

Lifetime Wish

Description: Be a girlfriend/boyfriend of 10 different Sims

Lifetime Happiness Points: 35,000




Well. These 35,000 points were hard earned. And I also think the name of this wish is a bit of a misnomer, seeing how I did so little of the breaking.

This is one of my retroactive wishes as I have been married for a very long time and have no desire to date ever again. Seriously, who wants to go back to that? But for all you ladies out there who have burned me or been burned by me I say: thanks?

Retroactive Wish Completions

To begin adding to my Lifetime Happiness I am going to add a few wishes that were completed before I started this project. These are lifelong types of things that I cannot do or do not want to do again, such as children and career stuff. I will not pad this list with every book or bookshelf I have ever bought. Just the big stuff.

Mission Statement

Starting in the early summer of 2011, I found myself facing some new and interesting decisions. I had just turned thirty, had finished two masters degrees (MA-English, MFA-Poetry) in a wonderfully challenging and fulfilling environment, and was preparing to begin my PhD in English in a new city. I wasn't worried because I had been through this before: a new city, a new university, new jobs for me and my wife, new schools for the kids, etc... But this summer was more of a challenge than I had anticipated (go figure). I'll return to this in a moment.

I am a writer. Writing is what I have been trained in, what my degrees are in, and what I teach to make a living. Since I was a small child I knew I wanted to write, and I have been writing my whole life. But I am also a gamer. Only my closest friends know of how serious a gamer I am. I have been gaming as long as I have been writing, and I spend at least as much time, if not more (yeah, probably more) playing games as I do writing. This goes for more than just video games: sports, board games, trivia games, trading card games (I am a pretty serious MTG player), made-up games, you name it. If it looks fun and can be won, chances are I will play it.

This can be perceived as a problem when one is trying to build a career as a poet. People think a writer should be typing away by candlelight with no other distractions than his or her serious literary thoughts. That is a Hollywood stereotype. Reality is much different. Nobody could or should write every hour of the day. Poems come when they come, and when they come you had better drop everything and listen. Gaming is my other great love, and gives me something to look forward to when I am not working. Aside from being my favorite pastime, I never thought that gaming could inspire me in my non-virtual life. It has given me many hours of enjoyment, but this summer it also jumped up and kicked me in the ass.

Thus the purpose of this blog.

I had never played any of The Sims games before, but this summer I have been playing The Sims 3 port on Xbox 360. For those of you who are not familiar, The Sims is a series of games where you create virtual people and help them lead their virtual lives. Like many people probably do, I made a Sim version of my own family and have been working on fulfilling our virtual dreams and wishes. Each character has a lifetime wish and hundreds of smaller personal wishes. Each completed wish adds to your character's Lifetime Happiness total.

As I sat playing, my character who much like the real me is a bookworm, wanted to go to the Library. This is a common wish for Bookworm characters in the game, but it occurred to me that outside of the university library where I sometimes hold my classes, I had not been to the library in a long time, and never for non-scholastic purposes. I also realized that my children who are five and three years old respectively, had also never been to the library. I was ashamed of that realization. After all books are my business, but my children whose own father is a published poet had never been to a library. I was accomplishing more in my virtual life than in my real one.

I thought, why can't I really live like this? How do we get so disoriented in our lives that we forget to live simply? Have I been so caught up trying to become a writer that I forgot about the damn library?

I turned off the game, threw the kids in the car, and went to get a new library card. In five minutes my kids were going wild picking books off the shelves and I remembered how happy a simple trip to the library could be. I thought to myself, how could this game help me live better?

As I said earlier, the move to a new city has been harder than I thought. I feel as though I have been on an island of myself. I have hardly left the house in months because I don't have anywhere to go really, and nobody to visit. But that is my own fault. I realized that there are plenty of things to do and wish for in the world. I have just been forgetting about them. So I set myself a challenge. Using the challenges and wishes from the Sims universe, I am going to keep track of my lifetime happiness.

The rules are simple. I will do as much of this list as I can, and report about it here on this blog. The goal is not the completion of the list. There are some things on there that I will never do, and some that are impossible for me to do. There are plenty that I simply don't want to do, but I am going to try and make an effort to live outside of my comfort zone. The goal: 1,000,000 lifetime happiness points or I drop dead, whichever happens first.

J. Bruce Fuller
Lafayette, LA
August 2011

Site Setup

Welcome to A SIMple Life, my blog experiment. Site setup is underway, stay tuned for mission statement and first wish achievements.